Australia captain Pat Cummins denies involvement in ‘Sandpapergate’ scandal

Résumé détaillé

Cummins says Khawaja was '100 percent wrong' in claiming the whole team knew about the 2018 ball-tampering scandal.

Australia captain Pat Cummins ⁠has again denied any involvement in ⁠the plot to use sandpaper on the ball in a Test against South Africa in 2018, describing the allegations in Usman Khawaja’s autobiography as “utter nonsense”.

Former Australia batsman Khawaja, whose autobiography was published on Tuesday, said last weekend that all the players in the team knew about ⁠the plot to rough up the ball with sandpaper to make it swing. His latest comments triggered calls for a new investigation into the incident.

The scandal centred around the third Test in Cape Town, but Khawaja also claimed the tactic was used in the second Test at Port Elizabeth.

“When he says we all knew, if by that he means that we knew sandpaper was going out in the field, he’s 100 percent wrong. I’ve said that consistently for the last eight years,” Cummins told a news conference in Sydney on Friday.

“I did not know that was happening, but I think ⁠Usman actually says things that are actually far more serious than that.

“He says that I and others were architects of a scheme to ball tamper with sandpaper. That’s complete and utter nonsense.

“There was no master plan around using illegal methods,” he added. “There’s no grand plan. There’s no team meeting. There’s no bowlers saying ‘this is what must happen’.”

Cummins and fellow bowlers Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon all denied publicly in a 2021 statement that they were aware of the plan.

Darren Lehmann, who was the Australian head coach at the time, has also denied any knowledge, as has former batting coach Graeme Hick, who called Khawaja’s allegations “absolutely false”.

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